Textile yarn or thread winding apparatus is normally comprised of a freely rotatable take-up roll which supports a bobbin, often cylindrical, upon which yarn is to be wound; a drive roll which rides in frictional contact with the yarn on the bobbin during winding to cause rotation of the take-up roll; and a yarn traversing mechanism to direct the point of entry of the yarn onto the bobbin so that a package having yarn uniformly distributed across its transverse dimension is produced.
In prior art apparatus of this type, the pressure of the drive roll against the yarn tends to vary as the diameter of the yarn package increases. As a result, the structure of the package from the bobbin outwardly is non-uniform and the size of the package that can be suitably formed is limited. While winders have been proposed with assemblies to improve the uniformity of the drive roll pressure against the yarn, such assemblies have provided only a limited solution, and/or have been unduly expensive or difficult to construct or maintain.
Additionally, release of the yarn packages from the take-up roll after building of the packages has tended to be somewhat slow, thus limiting the production capabilities of the winder, and can be hazardous to the operator if the package is inadvertently released before the take-up roll has stopped rotation.
Finally, actual removal, or doffing, of one or more yarn packages from the take-up roll is a relatively slow manual operation, further limiting the production capabilities of the apparatus.
Specific objects of the present invention are to provide an improved winding apparatus for producing packages of yarn or thread which is substantially free of the aforesaid deficiencies.